Tuesday, November 18, 2014

WVTK Local & State News November 18, 2014

Middlebury College has named a new president to replace Ronald D. Liebowitz. The Middlebury Board of Trustees earlier today named Laurie L. Patton. Patton is currently the dean of Duke University’s Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and the Robert F. Durden Professor of Religion. Patton will take office on July 1, 2015. Liebowitz announced last December that he wished to step down following this academic year. By that time he will have served as president for 11 years and as a member of the Middlebury faculty for 31 years. Liebowitz called Patton a “remarkable scholar whose deep commitment to her field would be an example and inspiration” to students and faculty alike. Patton will be the 17th president of the college, which was founded in 1800, and the first woman to hold the post.

A large turnout is expected for a public hearing on a proposed natural gas pipeline from Vermont to the International Paper Mill in Ticonderoga. Tonight’s night's hearing in Elizabethtown is the only New York hearing scheduled for the proposed 10-inch-diameter pipeline that would run under Lake Champlain. The Vermont Public Service Board has already conducted a number of hearings. In fact, there is another forum tonight at 7 pm at the Salisbury Congregational Church to discuss Phase 3 of the project.

The Vermont man who had been in quarantine after returning from Africa last month has been deemed Ebola free. The Vermont Department of Health says Peter James Italia completed his 21 days of quarantine without any sign of the deadly virus. Italia entered a voluntary government quarantine when he returned from a trip to Sierra Leone and Guinea on October 27th. The state housed Italia in a private home and hired medical professionals to visit him daily and look for signs of Ebola.

The Vermont Student Assistance Corporation or VSAC has released its annual Scholarships Booklet for Vermonters. A press release says the scholarship booklet has a collection of more than 140 programs for eligible students looking to finance college. Students and parents can learn about the application process and requirements at www.vsac.org. The deadline for these VSAC-assisted scholarships is March 6. Early-bird applications postmarked by February 6 will be entered in a drawing for one of three $1,000 scholarships. VSAC says printed booklets will be available at all Vermont high schools and border-state schools enrolling Vermont students before November 30.